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Steve Pistorius has the distinction of being the only living New Orleanian who specializes in early Jazz piano. Whether playing solo or leading a band, he creates joyful and swinging renditions of oft-neglected rags, waltzes, marches, pop tunes, blues and stomps.

Love of the music turned into a lifetime profession in 1973. Steve answered an ad for a five nights a week gig, winning the spot by default as no one else showed up for the audition. Mentored and influenced since then by musicians like Neil Unterseher, Armand Hug, Jeanette Kimball, Morton Gunnar Larsen, Butch Thompson, Burt Bales, Don Ewell, Max Morath and Eubie Blake, Steve has developed his own unique piano style.

Steve’s career highlights include performing in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Apollo Theatre, One Mo’ Time and the Pope’s Square in Belo Horizontes, Brazil. Steve has toured the South Pacific, Far East, Europe, Scandinavia, South America (including the Galapagos Islands) and the Middle East. He has toured with his own band and with notable bandleaders such as Duke Heitger, John Gill, Michael White, Orange Kellin, Banu Gibson, Mark Braud, Wendell Brunious, Hal Smith, Chris Tyle and Leon Redbone.

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Swinging renditions of oft-neglected rags, waltzes, marches, pop tunes, blues and stomps.

Steve has been involved in numerous recording projects and can be heard on Island, Jazzology, Good Time Jazz, Solo Art, 11th Commandment Records and Stomp Off labels. In addition to the aforementioned bandleaders he’s recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Claude Luter, Bob Havens, and Bob Wilbur.

Currently, Steve plays several days a week on the Steamer Natchez with Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers, performs frequently at Preservation Hall with his Southern Syncopators and the Joint Chiefs Of Jazz and with Dr. Michael White’s Original Liberty Jazz Band at Snug Harbor, local festivals and out of town dates. He is performing in a new show called “A Night in Old New Orleans” led by veteran New Orleans jazzman Orange Kellin and featuring the acclaimed New Orleans singer, dancer, actor, and playwright Vernel Bagneris. The show travels regularly to various U.S. cities. Steve’s project for the last couple of years has been one featuring the immense talents of Orange Kellin on clarinet and James Evans on clarinet, alto sax, C-melody sax and vocals. They have recorded two compact discs which have received excellent reviews and play clubs and private events around the Crescent City.